Do Younger Women Fare Worse? Sex Differences in Acute Myocardial Infarction Hospitalization and Early Mortality Rates Over Ten Years

Abstract Background: Recent research has identified younger women as an “at-risk” population with rising prevalence of cardiac risk factors and excess mortality risk following acute myocardial infarction (AMI). However, population-based data on trends in AMI hospitalization and early mortality post AMI among younger adults is scarce. We, therefore, aimed to provide a 10-year, descriptive analysis of these trends in a Canadian setting. Methods and Results: We assessed trends and sex differences in AMI hospitalization and 30-day mortality rates using negative binomial and logistic regression, respectively. From 2000 to 2009, there were 70,628 AMI hospitalizations in adults aged ≥20 years, in British Columbia, Canada, with 17.1% of cohort being younger adults ≤55 years. Overall, age-standardized AMI rates (per 100,000 population) declined similarly in men (295.8 to 247.7) and women (152.1 to 128.8) [sex–year interaction p=0.81]. However, these trends differed according to age (age–sex–year interaction p=0.02...